Lyles had committed to compete for the
Florida Gators at the
University of Florida, but in July 2016, Noah and his younger brother
Josephus instead turned professional and signed with
Adidas. In November 2016, Lyles was again named high school boys athlete of the year for 2016 by
Track & Field News. Lyles started 2017 with his first senior national title in the 300 m at the
2017 USA Indoor Championships in the thin air of
Albuquerque, New Mexico, improving the indoor world record by one hundredth of a second to 31.87 s. He earned a silver medal in the
4 × 200-meter relay with team USA at the
2017 World Relays. Lyles won two meets in the
2017 IAAF Diamond League circuit, winning the final ahead of American champion
Ameer Webb and world champion
Ramil Guliyev. However, injuries prevented him from competing much of the season and he missed the
2017 World Championships as a result.
2018 . Lyles returned to Albuquerque to compete at the
2018 USA Indoor Championships, but in the
60-meter dash instead of the 300 m. He made it through his first heat while equaling his personal best time of 6.57 s, but failed to advance through his semi-final. Having failed to make the national team for the
2018 World Indoor Championships, he turned his focus to preparing for the outdoor season. He opened with a win in the 200 m at the
IAAF Diamond League Doha meet, setting a new personal best with a time of 19.83 s. A few weeks later he ran the less common
150 m at the adidas Boston Games, winning in a personal best time of 14.77 s. He returned to the 200 m at the
IAAF Diamond League in Eugene, winning and improving his personal best time to 19.69 s. This time matched the world leading time set by
Clarence Munyai earlier that year. At the
2018 USA Championships he focused on the 100 m instead, matching the world lead of 9.89 s in the semi-final.
Mike Rodgers had set the world lead a day before in a separate heat, but he did not start in the semi-finals. This left Lyles' primary rival to be
Ronnie Baker, who had run the 100 m in 9.78 s at the Prefontaine Classic earlier that year, but with a wind velocity just over the allowable limit for record purposes (+2.4 m/s). He became the youngest U.S. champion in the 100 m since
Sam Graddy won in 1984. Lyles world lead in the 100 m would later be beaten by Baker (9.87 s) and then
Christian Coleman (9.79 s), but at the
Herculis IAAF Diamond League meet in
Monaco Lyles set a new 200 m world lead and personal best time in 19.65 s. The time placed him in the top-10 fastest men in the 200 m of all time. Before that Lyles equaled his personal best and world lead at the
Athletissima IAAF Diamond League meet to win a greatly anticipated showdown against
Michael Norman, who had set the indoor world record in the
400-meter dash earlier that year. Lyles went into the IAAF Diamond League final, the
Weltklasse Zürich, as the favorite. He was again matched up against world champion Ramil Guliyev who recently also become European champion, setting a personal best of 19.76 s in the process. The two were placed in adjacent lanes and ran evenly through the bend, but Lyles started to pull away on the straight and finished in 19.67 s. It was his fourth time under 19.70 s in the same season. Only one other individual has been under 19.70 s four times in a career, world record holder
Usain Bolt who also did it four times during his record-breaking 2009 season.
2019 In 2019, Lyles opened the season by running 100 meters races, running a 9.86 (+0.9) world leader in
Shanghai on May 18. In his first 200-meter race, at the
Pietro Mennea Golden Gala meet, he equalled Mennea's long standing 1979 world record time running a 19.72 (+0.7). A month later at
Athletissima in
Lausanne, he dropped his personal best to 19.50 (−0.1) to move into the number four position on the all time list. A week later he ran a 9.92 (+0.3) 100 in
Monaco. With the extended schedule in 2019, he ran the
US National Championships at the end of July, taking the 200-meter title in 19.78 (−0.7) into a headwind in
Des Moines. Then in
Paris he ran 19.65 (+0.2). . Lyles won gold medals in the 200 m and the 4 × 100 m relay at the
2019 World Athletics Championships held in
Doha, Qatar.
2022 to present On July 21, 2022, during the
World Athletics Championships on home soil in Eugene, Oregon, Lyles claimed his second global title in the 200 m and surpassed
Michael Johnson's long standing national record of 19.32 by running 19.31, which moved him to third on the world all-time list. Lyles went on to be part of the silver-winning team in the
4 × 100 m relay, where they were narrowly beaten by Canada. He capped his fine season in the Zürich
Diamond League final with victory in 200 m, securing his fourth Diamond Trophy over the distance and fifth overall. Lyles was undefeated in his specialist event that year, breaking 20 seconds in all 12 of his races, including heats and finals. At the
2023 World Athletics Championships held in
Budapest, Lyles won the 100 m with a personal best of 9.83. Lyles went on to also win gold in the 200-meters with a time of 19.52 s. This was his third title in the 200 m and fifth overall in the
World Athletics Championships. With his three 200 m world champion titles, he surpassed
Michael Johnson (2) and
Calvin Smith (2) and this moved him to second on the world all-time list for
World Championship 200 m titles, only behind
Usain Bolt with four titles. On June 9, 2024, Lyles clocked 19.77 seconds for 200 m in
New York City into a headwind of 1.6 m/s. As of September 16, 2024, this is the fastest time into such a strong headwind. Lyles set a new 100 m personal best time of 9.81 s in winning at the
London Diamond League on July 20, 2024. He won the 100 m at the
2024 Olympics with a new personal best of 9.784, giving a 0.005 second margin over Jamaica's
Kishane Thompson (9.789). It was the first US victory in the event since 2004. The race was so close that
Leigh Diffey calling the race for American
NBC Sports prematurely declared Thompson the winner. Lyles' next event was the 200 m, in which he got the bronze medal with a time of 19.70, behind
Letsile Tebogo and
Kenny Bednarek. Following the event, he collapsed on the track and was taken off in a wheelchair. It was later confirmed that Lyles had tested positive for
COVID-19 two days prior, which "affected [his] performance". He later stated he would not run in the 4 × 100 m or 4 × 400 m relay races. In November 2024, Lyles won an exhibition
50 meter race against content creator
IShowSpeed for $100,000. The race was organized and refereed by
MrBeast. In 2025, coming back from injury, Lyles won the 200 m at the
Monaco Diamond League with a time of 19.88 s, beating olympic champion
Letsile Tebogo. At the
2025 World Athletics Championships held in
Tokyo, Lyles won the bronze medal in the 100 m with a time of 9.89 s. Lyles then clapped back in the 200 m, winning his 4th consecutive title with a time of 19.52 s. He then proceeded to anchor the US 4 × 100 m relay team to victory with a time of 37.29 s. == Personal life ==